A pack that collects all the Game A Month Games as they were at the end of 2020.
December's game, submission for the No GMs, No Settings, No Campaigns Jam. It's a game inspired by tournament and battle arcs in sports and battle manga, drawing heavily on Follow. You will meet rivals in matches, pitting your beliefs and skills against each other. This is done in a simple card playing mechanism. Through those matches and interactions, you'll learn and grow and change your character up until the final stage of the game which aims to pay off any earlier character interactions and conflicts.
November's game. Was meant for the Epilogue Jam game jam, but couldn't finish it in time. A twist on Spectres of Brocken: Full Cover, a game I made previously. Instead of young pilots meeting at an academy and then having to fight each other in a war later, this version of the game has you starting as ace pilots in a war and then seeing how you deal with the end of the war and return to civilian life. You will deal with the aftermath of your actions and how your mech has become a symbol of the past war.
October's game, another one that wasn't for a game jam but I guess it was responding to Halloween vibes. It's a game about being agents of Death sent out on missions to deal with those who oppose Death. You use temporary bodies for each mission which provide powers tailored to the mission, and you can convert some of them to become permanent powers as you play. It uses a playing card based system that lets you balance succeeding at tasks against burning up Heart cards that represent your personhood.
September's game, submission to the What Is So Cool About Jam? It's a game about being players of an MMO who have been transported into the game and are now stuck there. It plays on isekai tropes and is based on the "What's So Cool About..." system that is super quick to get going.
August's game. Was not initially made with this project in mind since it was just a whimsy, but I got busy in August and so decided to make this August's official game. It's a game about collaboratively designing a game through play together and sums up some of my thoughts about making games.
July's game, made for the Hex Jam game jam. It's a hexcrawl-ish game about being different aspects of a single person who has been split apart due to a curse, and trying to work together to figure out who you are apart and together before breaking the curse and recombining into a single person.
June's other game. For once, not for a game jam. Was meant to be a game for the Homebound anthology but I ended up deciding to wait to make it, and got stuck on it until June 2020. It's a shared storytelling game about building a town, and seeing it through the eyes of people who left it and returned, and people who stayed there throughout. It's a personally resonant project as I've just moved back to Malaysia after almost 15 years away.
June's game, submission to the Index Card game jam. A small game that I included early on as I wasn't sure if I could finish the other game I had planned. It's about being chroniclers following the life story of several heroes discussing the details with a lorespeaker. It's actually an idea I've had for a while, where a key mechanic is appending paper and notes to existing sheets to expand the record of the game. I don't think I got what I wanted out of the game in this version, since I had to condense it to fit on an index card, so I'm hoping to re-visit it later.
May's game, submission to the 6e game jam. It's a d20-based system that aims to mix what I like about D&D style games with the more flexible GMing style I've gotten used to in PbtA and FitD games. One of the key things I wanted it to do was have an encounter system that had the fluidity of PbtA, but still have some guidance and clear options for players who weren't as comfortable just making stuff up on the fly. I think it has some cool features, and I'll continue tinkering with it as I go.
April's game, submission for the Asian Martial Arts by Asian Creators game jam. It is specifically inspired by the character Dugu Qiubai from Jin Yong's Condor Heroes series of novels who leaves behind a grave with four swords. The game structure highlights the different steps in a wuxia hero's path: from an inexperienced and reckless upstart, to a wizened hero burdened by sorrows and frayed connections.
March's second game, made for the Beyond the Super game jam. It's a world-building game in the vein of Microscope that is heavily inspired by Astro City. You work together to create a city that becomes the home of superpowered heroes and civilians, and explore their lives and connections to each other and their home through different eras. Uses playing cards as prompts which also tie together different characters in different eras.
March's first game, submission for the Rhymerbrands game jam. A hack of Mobile Frame Zero: Firebrands about being in an online community of fans and model kit enthusiasts for a mecha anime show. It uses a card collection system that is closer aligned to The King is Dead than base Firebrands. You can buy and trade model kits, modify them and show them off to each other, hold online polls and discussions, and finally meet up in person at a big fan convention.
February's game, made for the Game On Lah! event which had a "Back to School" theme. Patterned on the Malaysian SPM exams. It is a combination of PbtA style moves with a FitD split phase structure, inspired by Monster of the Week. You investigate a threat to your town while keeping things calm and managing your mundane responsibilities in the Student Phase. When things go down, you use what you've learned to deal with the threat in the Protector Phase. Finally you deal with the aftermath and engage in some mundane activities during downtime in the Marking Phase.
January's game, submission for Transformed Titles game jam. It's basically "What if King's Cup but we are knights and we roll dice and instead of drinking from the cup it holds dice that may kill us???". Playing cards provide prompts for mini-games which your knights have to try and best in search of the Holy Grail. Win challenges to gain Boon dice for your selves and add Bane dice to the cup in the middle and finally challenge for the Holy Grail by rolling the Bane dice in the cup.
